UK retail sales in June were disappointing and confirmed the underlying slowdown in consumer spending seen since late last year, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI). In its monthly distributive trades survey, the CBI said sales growth in June stayed below the mean balance of the past decade for the eighth straight month. Almost 40pc of respondents said sales were up while 29pc said they were down. The balance was down on the plus 14pc balance seen in May. While these results were an improvement from the winter months, they remained well down on the average of plus 33pc seen in the first six months of last year, CBI said. Retailers have also scaled back expectations for sales growth for the year to July. "Sales in June were viewed as only average, having been comfortably above average in May for the first time in six months," CBI said. A build up of stocks from May, combined with disappointing demand in June caused retailers to cutback orders with suppliers. //www.fxcentre.com